Nick Castellanos — the newly acquired outfielder of the Philadelphia Phillies — had some positive things to say about his new boss, Phillies owner John Middleton. Those comments could easily be construed as criticism of his former employer, the Cincinnati Reds.
Castellanos was interviewed by John Clark of NBC Sports Philadelphia and he was asked about Middleton being willing to go over the luxury tax to sign Castellanos. The 2021 NL All-Star didn’t criticize the Reds or their owner, Bob Castellini, by name. But his praise of Middleton did double as a not-so-thinly veiled shot at his former employer.
Nick Castellanos' first interview as a member of the Phillies 🤩@JClarkNBCS catches up with Castellanos upon his arrival to Philadelphia: pic.twitter.com/MxJOkMPug3
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) March 21, 2022
“At the end of the day, baseball comes down to ownership. The owner either wants to invest and cares about winning, or doesn’t. It speaks a lot to who he is. So Philadelphia should be pumped that that guy is behind the Phillies.”
While Castellanos’ comments weren’t a direct shot at the Reds, several Cincinnati fans on Twitter read between the lines.
https://twitter.com/CincyTron/status/1506047377483997192
Are you listening @Reds? https://t.co/v0dDhD15uI
— Troy (Moose) Bengals & Things 🐅 (@moose196850) March 22, 2022
#Reds fans need to hear this! https://t.co/0TiDwUl74r pic.twitter.com/i0qY2qtIlc
— Blog Red Machine (@blogredmachine) March 22, 2022
If we lived in a vacuum, we’d say that these people are jumping to conclusions. He was praising Middleton and his new team. Sure, the comments about an owner “who cares about winning, or doesn’t” might cause a second look, but those could be chalked up a guy wording something awkwardly after just getting off of a plane. It happens to everyone.
But we don’t live in a vacuum. In the world we live in, several former Reds have been critical of the team.
Pitcher Wade Miley, who had a nice season for Cincinnati in 2021 before shockingly being put on waivers and signed by the Chicago Cubs in December, also made comments about the Reds on Monday. Per Bobby Nightengale of The Cincinnati Enquirer, Miley called the payroll cuts “a little bit of a pattern there.”
There’s more. Following Cincinnati’s trade of Eugenio Suarez and Jesse Winker, former shortstop Zack Cozart made critical comments about the Reds’ front office. On Twitter, MLB News Network brought up the critical comments of not only Miley and Cozart but also Winker, David Hernandez, and Brandon Phillips.
If Castellanos’ comments were isolated, there wouldn’t be much to read into. But they aren’t isolated. Given that the other critical comments were almost all about the front office being cheap and unwilling to spend good money on good players, it’s easy to assume that Castellanos was following suit.
And given how frequent it’s become to see former Cincinnati players criticize the organization, don’t bet on Castellanos being the last one to do so.
